“Shouldn’t Even Put on This Jersey”: Dwight Howard Reveals Behind the Scenes of LeBron James’ Lakers Despite Being Excited to Play with Russ and AD

Los Angeles Lakers registered their first win of the season against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. The Lakers are now 1-5 in the league and expect to start a winning streak from now. However, the Lakers’ early season results are reminiscent of last season, when they failed to make it to the playoffs. Despite LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ strong efforts, the Lakers ended the season 33-49. Dwight Howard, who featured in 60 games for the Lakers last season, recently discussed what happened behind the scenes with the Lakers amidst terrible form.

Dwight Howard started in 27 games for the Lakers and primarily played off the bench last season. He averaged 6.2 points per game, which is the lowest in his career. This was Howard’s third stint with the Lakers, and he was very excited to join a roster that was capable of winning a championship.

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Dwight Howard was a part of the Lakers’ roster that won the championship in 2020. That season, he started just 2 games from the 69 he played. But he had an important role to play off the bench, which he did. His hopes of a 2nd championship crashed last season when the Lakers finished 11th in the Western Conference. He recently discussed what went wrong for the Lakers last year.

Dwight Howard talks about Lakers poor 2021-22 season

The 36-year-old center recently appeared on ‘Club Shay Shay’ hosted by Shannon Sharpe. During the show, Sharpe asked Howard about the 33-win season from the Lakers despite having a strong roster.

“I take my part in it. I could have been a lot better. Whatever they needed me to be,” Howard told Shannon Sharpe. “But, [it] did not end good last year, and it really was an embarrassment. Some days I was like, ‘man, we shouldn’t even put on this jersey like this.'”

Shannon Sharpe then asked Howard about the dressing room scenes. He also added that the Lakers’ roster was full of NBA top 75 players and they ‘should’ve won more than 33’ games. “I agree. I just feel like some things could have been tweaked. We could’ve switched some things up. But it just wasn’t meant for us to win. And it sucked man,” Howard said.

Dwight Howard then went on to reveal how he couldn’t wait to have a chance to play alongside Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. He also described why the Lakers struggled last season.

He continued: “I couldn’t wait to play with Russ and Melo, I couldn’t wait for it to happen again. I felt like we was fighting it so much. People say you grab some sand. If you hold it too tight, it’s gonna fall out if you don’t hold it enough. I feel that’s how it was like.”

The Lakers lost a whopping 49 games last season. It wasn’t the worst NBA season in history. But the amount of quality players the Lakers had, it was a certainly a disastrous season.

Dwight Howard discusses stopping LeBron James from facing Kobe Bryant in the 2009 NBA Finals

Howard spent the majority of his career with the Orlando Magic. He took to the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009 and won the Defensive Player of the Year, as they lost the championship to the Lakers. There was an opportunity for the fans to see LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in the NBA final in 2009. But the Cavaliers faced Howard’s Magic in the Conference Finals.

Ahead of the fixture, Nike released a commercial about Kobe vs LeBron in the 2009 NBA final. This motivated Howard and the Magic, who went on to beat LeBron’s Cavs 4-2.Howard revealed his reaction to the commercial, later on ‘Club Shay Shay’.

“We showed LeBron and the Cavs that hell no, the puppet gotta go for real. I’m like, ‘How y’all gonna have a whole Nike commercial about LeBron and Kobe in the Finals, and they ain’t even in the Finals yet?’ We wanted to destroy LeBron and the Cavs because of that,” Howard told Shannon Sharpe.

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Indeed, the Magic were very motivated, and they ruined the Cavs vs Lakers fixture, predicted by many. However, the Magic failed to win the championship that season as the Lakers proved to be too good in the Finals. Who knew that Dwight Howard would end up winning his first ring with the Lakers a decade later.